Follow the Thread: Writing as an Act of Faith
When I started writing the essays that would eventually become my first book, Tough Love: A Wyoming Childhood, I did not have a concrete vision of what the book would be about. To learn what I was trying to write and why, I needed to trust the process.
Is My Writing Good Enough?
NOTE: I met Annia Napier, a young writer in Rapid City, around Christmas of 2020 after her aunt reached out to me, asking if she could pay for her niece to receive a writing coach session from me. Annia, then 15, had completed the draft of one novel and was cranking away on the second. […]
Writers Groups: Why they’re crucial, where to find them and 6 questions to ask before joining one
A writing group is a critical component to your work as a writer. Find out what questions to ask before joining one and where you can find a group that fits your writing goals.
To Write Well, You Have to Live
Teenager Annia Napier talks about the importance of life experiences to her growth as a writer. If you want to learn how to write well, you have to live a little.
Good Writing is Practice. Practice is Discipline.
Writing is hard work. Working at it means we will almost certainly write sentences that suck, pursue ideas that go nowhere and struggle and grasp for the right words. But this is practice in action: the act of trying, then trying again, then trying again.
The (Not So) Complicated Element of Surprise
When I first started writing, I assumed that if your writing were complex, naturally it would turn out good. I never really understood what people wanted in their reading experience, and I never understood what I truly wanted to accomplish in my own writing. As a young writer, I am still figuring that out.
Why Do We Tell Stories?
Why do we tell stories? As a writer, I am constantly thinking about this. Stories are everywhere. They are in the office chit-chat on a random Wednesday morning. They are flurries of words between energetic kids, recounting a wild soccer match or telling about a sister’s sleepover. Storytelling is practically an art form in small […]